Spanish police have arrested a man for allegedly stealing thousands of Nintendo Wii users' data, Spain's Interior Ministry announced. The man, who for the time being has not been identified, contacted Nintendo and threatened to report the company "for negligence" to the country’s data protection agency over data on 4,000 gamers he was able to obtain access to. When Nintendo did not respond, the man leaked some of the user data online, according to police.

No doubt Nintendo contacted authorities first, which lead to the man's apprehension in the southern province of Malaga. Police claim the man intended to release all the user data he had online.

Nintendo had no comment on the story because, according to the BBC "it was the subject of of an active investigation by the Spanish authorities."

Comments

"When Nintendo did not respond, the man leaked some of the user data online, according to police."

...And this seemed like a smart thing to do? Not in the least bit counterproductive to your goals? Hypocitical even, maybe? What's that saying about "he who fights monsters?"---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

Black hats often feel, rightly or wrongly, that if the owner of an unsecured site does not respond to their warnings, the best way to put pressure on them is to go public.

The claim that the man only revealed some of the info he had, instead of all of it, could mean that he was trying to show the seriousness of the vuln without hurting anybody -- or it could mean he was attempting to extort hush money from Nintendo and was showing what he had to prove he was serious. The story doesn't have a lot of details, though the claim that he was planning on contacting the authorities with the information suggests he had good intentions.

What data he leaked is unclear. I suppose there are ways to leak confidential data that prove you have it but don't reveal what it is -- you could post a one-way hash, or post, say, a customer's initials and a few digits of his credit card or SSN, something along those lines. The article says he was planning on releasing the full contents of the DB, though, which if true is obviously a very bad thing and, as you say, not a very effective way to protect people's privacy.

Bottom line, I hope Nintendo (or whoever was housing the info) gets their security fixed so nobody else gets ahold of customer data. And I hope the guy in question gets whatever's coming to him -- if he was trying to extort money, he deserves prison; if he really intended to leak the entire database, he deserves a stiff fine. But if he really only leaked harmless bits and pieces to try and get Nintendo to take the threat seriously, then I think he should only get a slap on the wrist.

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Matthew Wilson: I am going to pax east, any games you guys want me to check out?03/02/2015 - 11:23pm

ZippyDSMlee: No one remembers the days of Cinemagic and Cynergy eh? :P, meh even MGS is getting to film like....03/02/2015 - 8:44pm

MechaTama31: I was about to get all defensive about liking Metal Gear Solid, but then I saw that he was talking about "cinematic" as a euphemism for "crappy framerate".03/02/2015 - 8:29pm

prh99: Just replace cinematic with the appropriate synonym for poo and you'll have gist of any press release.03/02/2015 - 5:34pm

Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm